Choose happy...

Thursday, June 07 2018, 11:11AM

Last weekend my husband and I took a day trip to one of my "happy places": the little town of Berry on the south coast of NSW. As usual, we began at the Berry Tea Shop, with a big pot of tea and a slice of cake. We wandered the shops and took things slowly, enjoying being out and enjoying being together. There is an alternative-style bookstore there that I love perusing, and I have never walked out of there without a book! Often it's the very last copy on the shelf and it literally jumps into my hands. Saturday was no exception. This is what jumped into my hands:

There was something in me that knew I needed this book, that the ordeal that was coming on Monday was going to break me apart and force me to re-examine my life and it's direction. If you've read my other blogs, you are probably thinking that this is nothing new for me. And it isn't. So many times I have been knocked down, and had to build myself up again. And I've always done it. I've never seen myself as a victim, always a survivor. I've always believed that the more good I can put out in the world the better the world will become. But I also don't fully understand the world. I've never understood why people wilfully choose to do evil things, even when they know the consequences. But I keep doing good because it does me good.

One person I used to work with said to me once "you can't pour from an empty cup". And that is so true. So now I'm taking the time I need to grieve, heal, renew and refresh. I want to cultivate gratitude and build it into the armour I wear every day. Don't mistake me here, everyone needs armour, not to keep people out or keep us in, but as a defence against the onslaught of negativity. We all get distracted by life, and just like Medieval knights, when we forget to look after our armour it inevitably lets us down. So I am going to cultivate this practice each day.

'Eat, Pray, Love' is one of my favourite books, and my all-time favourite character is... Richard from Texas... he says that you need to select your thoughts every day just like you select your clothes.